Once upon a time, the Royals didn’t know what to do with a highly touted young slugger who was struggling in the majors, so out of desperation they sent him back to their Triple-A farm club in Omaha to work on his swing away from the big-league spotlight.

That worked well for Alex Gordon. In his first three full seasons after that demotion, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2005 draft produced a .287/.357/.459 line and averaged 19 homers, 80 RBI and 13 stolen bases for Kansas City. He made the 2009 All-Star Game and won three Gold Gloves as a left fielder.

Mike Moustakas (AP Photo)

The Royals have to hope Mike Moustakas responds the same way. The club shipped him off to Omaha on Thursday morning, because he wasn’t contributing much of anything at the plate and they had to do something. He’s batting just .152 through 139 plate appearances, with an anemic .543 OPS and minus-0.3 WAR.

Moustakas has been Kansas City’s everyday third baseman since he arrived in the big leagues midway through the 2011 season and has shown flashes of the potential that made him the No. 2 overall pick of the 2007 draft, but there just hasn’t been enough consistency. He hit 20 home runs in 2012, but dropped off to 12 homers and a well-below-average .651 OPS last year. After a strong spring training, this season has just been more regression.

The demotion comes just a week after K.C. manager Ned Yost said he was sticking with Moustakas as his third baseman. At least for now, though, the position belongs to journeyman Danny Valencia.

Despite Moustakas's struggles at the plate, the Royals are 23-23 this season and just 1 1/2 games out of the second wild-card spot at the moment. Long way to go, of course, but in what looks like a down year in the AL, it might only take 89 or 90 wins to claim one of those spots. Should Moustakas get his issues figured out in Omaha, he could be a big addition down the stretch.